Paintball Barrels: Composition?

[Glickman]

well, ive decided that i would like to experiment with paintball barrels and their composition. i have a z-1 that i believe has a brass insert, which seems to be the best barrel ive ever seen.

so, ive thought of some ways as to why brass might work better then aluminum, so i figured it was friction, as it was a topic discussed here (although i havent been able to find it)

sure enough, i looked up the friction of some metals and heres what i found:

*note* i dont know what alloy the aluminm is of thats commonly used in paintball machining, so i just figured aluminum-aluminum

Aluminum-aluminum 1.35
Brass 0.35
Teflon 0.04 (its a metal fabrication company, but id figure id throw this in anyway)
Steel 0.8
Graphite 0.1

Does anyone have any recommendations or critique before i go ahead and get quoted?

i plan on getting the price of brass, and possibly other metals, hopefully they can meet tolerances of .685, then find a way to get shroud with threadings that i can insert the different metals into.


as far as metals they can fabricate:

Alloy Steel
Aluminum
Brass
Carbon Steel
Carbon Plating
Copper
Copper-Nickle
Stainless
Titanium

as well as specialty (aka expensive)
Britania Cast Iron Chromium Chromoly Cobalt Ferralium Gallium Germanium Gold Hastelloy Inconel Indium Invar Kovar Lead Lithium Magnesium
Mercury Molybdenum Monel Nickel Niobium Permalloy Rodar Silver Tantalum Tin Tungsten Waspaloy Zinc Zirconium

[Muzikman]

Give J&J a call and see if they will sell you some stock. They make aluminum and they use to make brass barrels as well.

It's been said by a few companies that brass is the best material for barrels, but I am not so sure how much difference it really makes. Also, brass is very heavy.

That being said, I only shoot brass barrels now

[CaliMagFan]

i'd imagine a material with a low coefficient of friction would be better for the efficiency of your marker, but does it make a difference as far as ball trajectory goes so long as the material is consistent?

in that same vein- is efficiency worth the money spent to you?

-kyro

[Blazestorm]

I like my aluminum ultralite... it's light... accurate (enough, honestly it shoots pretty damn near perfect with 30-40 dollar paint)

Plus I can anodize it (pretty colors)

Ya.

I got it for free, so I don't care.

[White Wolf]

the coeficent for polished and anodized aluminum will be much differnt then for raw aluminum which is what the #'s you gave are for.

Also remember durability of the material plays a part also, brass is nice gut goes ot heck much faster then Ano'd aluminum and SS.

[purple]

the people you want to call for brass barrels is palmer's pursuit shop. a buddy of mine has a couple palmer guns, a blazer and a stroker. the blazer is like a cocker and the barrel is a nickel plated brass deal. the inside is bare brass and the outside is nickel plated, heavy as hell. You might want to try a carbon fiber barrel, i've got one and it shoots through breaks great(porting may help) the j&j ceramics work well too. also, i think lapco clear coats their barrels inside and out, and they feel super slick

just my $0.02

Purple

[Glickman]

the coeficent for polished and anodized aluminum will be much differnt then for raw aluminum which is what the #'s you gave are for.

Also remember durability of the material plays a part also, brass is nice gut goes ot heck much faster then Ano'd aluminum and SS.

they also have coefficiants for polished as well, and seem to be stay in a standard ratio, so hopefully that shouldnt effect too much (i also use bras-o on the brass barrel)

[Evil1]

This may be a little irrelevant to this thread, but I had an OLD brass J&J 12" for my one cocker I had years ago and one of the same barrel for my old mag I had in the late 90s and I always swore up and down that they were the most accurate barrels I had ever used. If you shot them from a rested position, It would look like one big splat. The barrels literally were dead on. Accuracy like that is not normal in paintball. My alias, emag,rt pro, or angel are not nearly as accurate as they were. The most accurate setup I have now is a 14" evil driver on my alias and it is still nowhere near as accurate as the brass barrels I had. If I still had the cocker threaded one, I would probably have the ugly thing on my alias.

[Glickman]

This may be a little irrelevant to this thread, but I had an OLD brass J&J 12" for my one cocker I had years ago and one of the same barrel for my old mag I had in the late 90s and I always swore up and down that they were the most accurate barrels I had ever used. If you shot them from a rested position, It would look like one big splat. The barrels literally were dead on. Accuracy like that is not normal in paintball. My alias, emag,rt pro, or angel are not nearly as accurate as they were. The most accurate setup I have now is a 14" evil driver on my alias and it is still nowhere near as accurate as the brass barrels I had. If I still had the cocker threaded one, I would probably have the ugly thing on my alias.

not really as it supports the idea that brass rocks

[GT]

It's been said by a few companies that brass is the best material for barrels,

Also, brass is very heavy.

WHY? becuase they are heavier, less muzzle rise= more accurate, atleast perception of accuracy.


Why havnet we seen an AO dealer make thier own kit? making barrels has to be pretty dam cheap.

[xXHavokXx]

WHY? becuase they are heavier, less muzzle rise= more accurate, atleast perception of accuracy.


Why havnet we seen an AO dealer make thier own kit? making barrels has to be pretty dam cheap.

Brass also tarnishes, is ugly , and doesnt attract chicks.

And is heavy

[Vanced]

And don't forget the BOA's were Nickle plated Brass... and still among some of the best barrels I have ever shot... but hey I am biased they were basically made in my back yard but a former AGD Tech. And later all the barrels were made by a close friend of mine working there who is a machinest and has a boat load of old of old pieces and parts and custom made stuff and knows just about all there is to know about Brass Barrels...

As for BOA Barrels, I see um on E-bay from time to time, and there is a lot of their orginal and test stuff floating around my neck of the woods... So if anyone is looking for something in paticualr I can probably find it.... Also along with some of my standard BOA Barrels, I know I have an All Brass slotted mag barrel that was powder-coated on the outside... as well as one of there later prototype alum. barrels with Brass sleeve inserts similar to a Scepter insert in size and design but inserted into the breach end of a 1 piece barrel...

And seeing it mentioned about some AO dealer making a Brass kit... well I don't know if my friend would be interested in making any more ( or even still has the proper access to the machinery ) but hey money always talks and if there is a paying demand I'll be happy to ask him... But we would have to deal with a die hard cocker guy... LOL ... but hey most of our barrels use cocker threads now ... so I guess he got me on that one ...

EDIT: Just dawn'd on me... We started with Brass Barrels... progressed into Titianium and Carbon Fiber... now were talking about Brass might still be the way to go after all theese years ??? I wonder what someone like Tom would say about this... If he would be proud of us for finally seeing that or just pissed off it took this long to realize it...

And if the Brass Barrel can make a comeback maybe there is hope for days of battery-less paintball to return...

[xXHavokXx]

hate to burst your bubble but uhm , I dont think brass is coming back, the progression to aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber all have a common thread. Weight. Same with guns, brass and steel have given way to the aluminum and composite guns we see now. Look at a 96 LED next to a Fly 4 it's amazing how tiny our guns are now. People are looking for even lighter solutions to things, SS inserts are used for durability but basically every new barrel is made of Aluminum or carbon fiber. Mag wise, look at how ULE took off, people wanted to make their mags lighter, you didnt see UHE where Tom milled the bodies out of Lead or Tungsten because people were clamoring for guns for "real men"

[Vanced]

Not saying it really would... most things have a point & a purpose... I switched to a Micromag body many years before ULE was ever released for the reasons you said... Smaller & Lighter... But My Mech's still have the Stainless RT Valves due to I like the durability vs weight saving's vs the X-Valve. It is all personal and point vs point choice to me, and maybe others...

But the properties of brass do have good points & maybe even potential... possibly as a plated barrel insert ?

And come on... Brass could never make a come back without some kick'n hype, marketing, and a Smart Parts logo ....

[Glickman]

Brass also tarnishes, is ugly , and doesnt attract chicks.

And is heavy

all brass barrels i know of are permident "inserts"

and no, you cant pick up chicks with brass. but a treaded tank is another story


i highly doubt it would make a comeback, but it might be cool to get a set of like 10, and who knows, maybe if used with a stainless alloy, it might be feasable.

i understand the weight of the gun being an issue, but common... i would see a ultralite's weight as a plus, but i would never buy one to specifically take off 1/4 a pound or whatever, i use a boomstick because it works, so what if its an extra pound heavier (that, and it balances out my shocker nicely )

so the next question might be, what might be a good alloy to use with brass (possibly to allow not needing a "sleeve"?